Dimensional Spheres and Nirvana

(BBCWorldwide) Scientists discuss what sort of life could be found in the 11th dimension. With talk of worlds of lightning bolts, electricity, unstable atoms, and more -- from the BBC show "Parallel Universe." It is full of mind-bending theories to set imaginations racing.

The Buddha gives illustrates the way in which the goal of Buddhist practice -- nirvana -- is set apart from all conditioned phenomena:

“Monastics, there is a state where there is no earth, no water, no fire, no air; no base consisting of the boundlessness of space, no base consisting of the boundlessness of consciousness, no base consisting of the boundlessness of nothingness, no base consisting of the boundlessness of neither perception nor non-perception; neither this world nor another world nor both; neither sun nor moon.

"Here, monastics, I say there is no coming, no going, no staying, no ceasing, no rising. Not fixed, not movable, it has no support [i.e., the mind finds no foothold]. Just this is the end of suffering” (Udana).

What is interesting about this list is that it not only negates worldly phenomena but also other-worldly phenomena [such as the exquisite pleasure and bliss of the jhanas], which meditators might get fixated on. Earth, air, fire, and water are the four primary elements (the characteristics of material), out of which matter and "things" are composed.

So in negating those elements, as well as he sun and moon, it is clear that nirvana is unlike any world we are familiar with or can conceive of -- yet it is knowable. It can be experienced. The passage goes on to say, it is “neither this world nor another world nor both.” This cuts off identification of nirvana with any world including the form and formless heavens.

Buddhist cosmology views the cosmos as divided into three realms: the realm of desire, the realm of [fine material] form, and the formless realm [which is purely mental]. These three realms consist of all the many regions wherein one undergoes Samsara, the cycle of birth and death. The realm of desire encompasses the many hellish worlds, the planes of hungry ghosts, animals, humans, fighting titans (asuras), and the first six of the many celestial worlds in space. ("Seventh heaven" and more lie just beyond those spheres).

The realm of desire is so called because all the beings within it are primarily motivated by their desire for sensual pleasures. And it is within the realm of desire that they reap the rewards of their profitable and unprofitable deeds (karma).

The realm of form consists of 18 higher celestial worlds, which correspond to the four states of jhana (Sanskrit, dhyana; Japanese, Zen) or meditative absorption beyond access concentration. More>>